Enclosed rhyme
# Enclosed rhyme

Enclosed rhyme (or enclosing rhyme) is the rhyme scheme ABBA (that is, where the first and fourth lines, and the second and third lines rhyme). Enclosed-rhyme quatrains are used in introverted quatrains, as in the first two stanzas of Petrarchan sonnets.

## Example

| How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, | A |
| - | - |
| Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! | B |
| My hasting days fly on with full career | B |
| But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. | A |

       (From John Milton: "Sonnet VII")

"Exposure", by Wilfred Owen, also has a good example of enclosed rhyme. Each of the eight stanzas have the ABBA half rhyming sequence:

| Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us ... | A |
| - | - |
| Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ... | B |
| Low, drooping flares confuse our memories of the salient ... | B |
| Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, | A |
| But nothing happens. |
